Skip to main content

Saturday Night’s Main Event Countdown: #15

 

(Damn Andy Goss, stealing my thunder again…)

 

- Live from Nashville, TN - March 12/ 88

- Your hosts are Vince & Jesse.

- We of course discuss the Hogan/Andre/evil referees controversy first. Funny story about that situation: I was watching some of those old Superstars shows from Feb / 88, and they did an angle whereby every time Jesse Ventura would start to talk about the Main Event, Vince would have the truck bleep out his entire diatribe, by order of Jack Tunney. 13 years ago, I of course had no clue why they were doing that, but now I realize that obviously those shows were from the taping cycle BEFORE the Main Event was shot, but aired AFTER it showed on NBC. And since Vince was like Howard Hughes with all the paranoia about anyone possibly leaking the Mystery Finish, he obviously didn't want to tell Jesse anything in advance and thus came up with the censorship angle to hedge his bets.

 


- Brutus Beefcake v. Greg Valentine.

 

Beefcake overpowers Valentine, but gets slugged down. Beefer comes back with the high knee and a slam, however. Big boot and Hammer is reeling. Beefcake gets a pair of atomic drops and an elbow, and rolls up Valentine for two. Weirdest moment ever: Vince has been commenting the whole match on Beefcake's bizarre tights (you know, the ones with the big split down the side of the legs) and when Beefcake does the rollover pin attempt, the camera is aimed squarely at his crotch, and an uncomfortable Jesse quips "Well, that's more of Beefcake than we really needed to see." Vince immediately jumps all over Jesse for even noticing, and they spent the rest of the show slinging gay innuendos at each other, making for some very awkward commentary. Anyway, Beefcake hammers away, but Valentine cheapshots him and drops an elbow. He goes up with another one, and drops the hammer for two. Figure-four, but they're in the ropes. Greg, however, keeps on the knee until Brutus bails, drawing Honky Tonk Man out of the dressing room. Honky mocks Beefcake until Valentine tosses him back in. Valentine pounds away with elbows and goes for the figure-four, after going to work extensively on the knee in Flairish fashion. Figure-four attempt is blocked by Beefcake with a handful of tights. Again, but Beefcake kicks him away. He comes back and fires back on Valentine, and gets an elbow. Sleeper in the center of the ring, but Greg barely makes the ropes and they tumble out. Jimmy Hart taunts Beefcake into releasing the move and chasing him, which allows Valentine to jump him on the way in and hit a backdrop suplex for the pin at 9:48. But WAIT! In fact, Beefcake lifted his shoulder at two, and he's the winner. I've always hated that finish, but Beefcake worked his ass off here and it was a ***1/4 match as a result. 1 for 1.  (To think we’ve reached a point where the double backdrop suplex pin is no longer on my top 10 most hated finishes list.) 

- Hulk Hogan v. "King" Harley Race.

 

This a rather famous match for two reasons, which will be explained when we get there. (What a tease.)  The storyline here is that Hogan is right pissed off because of the Andre situation and ain't taking no shit tonight. Here's a neat touch of continuity from the generally sloppy production crew: Hogan does one of those cheesy pre-match promos with Mean Gene backstage and rips his shirt during the course of it. When he comes out for the match immediately after, the shirt is still ripped. Why is this neat? Because those promos are generally done either WAY before or WAY after in post-production, usually before. So someone actually remembered that Hogan needed a torn shirt. For the evil flipside of this, check out The Main Event, where Hogan cuts a "backstage promo" wearing the 86-88 version of the WWF title belt, and when he "heads off to the ring" 5 seconds later the belt mysteriously metamorphizes into the now-classic WWF title belt! (Metamorphizes is totally a word.)  Anyway, Hogan no-sells a pre-bell attack, but Race gets a pair of headbutts. Hogan no-sells that, too, and just unloads on him. Hogan gets a pair of clotheslines, and then hits another one that sends Race over the top, where he hits a ringside table gut-first on the edge. That innocent-looking blow to Race's gut would actually result in a career-ending injury. Hogan posts Race, but gets jumped by him soon after. Race tries a piledriver on the floor, but can't pull it off. Hogan atomic drops him and posts him again. They head back in, where Hogan chops away and chokes Race out with his wrist tape (!). Man, this match is so much like a prototype of Hollywood Hogan that it's scary. Clothesline with the tape and Hogan keeps slugging away. Hogan stops to choke Heenan, allowing Race to nail him and get a kneedrop. Belly to belly sets up another kneedrop and a piledriver. Race dumps him and puts him on that same ringside table, but misses a dive off the apron and goes through the table himself. And that, my friends, is the first recorded table spot in North American wrestling. (Well, if you’re not counting the times that Randy Savage piledrove dudes through tables in Memphis, sure…) There seems to be some debate over exactly which table spot injured Race in this match, but I think the first one did more specific damage - this one was the usual "Fall down, break table" type with the weight distributed evenly over the surface. It certainly couldn't have HELPED the internal injury, however. Back in, Race hammers away and goes up for a diving headbutt, which gets two. Hulk up, yada yada legdrop at 7:24. Again, everyone busts ass and it's one of Hulk's better TV matches that I've ever seen. I'd call it about ***1/2 given the timeframe and innovative stuff here. 2 for 2.  (Also notable about this feud was the series of ridiculous columns in PWI at the time where one of the writers talked about seeing a bookie, who set odds on this particular series of house show matches for people to bet on.  And now this happens FOR REAL.) 

- Ted Dibiase v. Randy Savage.

 

Yes, Vince actually gave away the main event to Wrestlemania 4 two weeks before the show, so it's not a new thing. Savage goes out to abuse Virgil, and Dibiase attacks. Back in, Ted hammers away and chokes him down. Elbow and Dibiase pounds away in the corner. Elbow off the middle leads to more choking. Savage reverses a whip and elbows him back, then a high knee sends Dibiase dramatically flying out. Back in, double axehandle and Dibiase begs off. Clothesline gets two for Savage, however. Savage gets a hotshot and another elbow, and Dibiase now bails. Savage calmly invites him back in as they play mindgames with each other. Savage loses that battle, however, turning his back and getting jumped. Dibiase drops a pair of fists and chops away. A charge hits foot, and Savage gets an elbowdrop for two. Kneedrop misses, so Dibiase tries a spinning toehold to work the knee. Savage kicks off and Dibiase bails, but it was purposely done, as he then pulls Savage out of the ring and brawls with him. Virgil smokes Savage from behind to turn the tide. The ref tosses Virgil as we take a break and return with Dibiase getting a double axehandle and elbow for two. He hits the chinlock and uses the hair to keep Savage down. Savage elbows out and suddenly hits a clothesline out of nowhere. Backdrop, but Dibiase cheapshots him and the ref is bumped. Savage tosses Dibiase and follows with an axehandle, but Andre just CLOBBERS him. Man, DUMB DUMB DUMB move to follow Dibiase out to where the Giant was. Liz wisely runs back to get the cavalry as Andre just absolutely lays a shitkicking on Savage until the ref revives and counts him out at 11:42. Heel beatdown follows, you-know-who makes the save to set up the finish of WM4. Total PPV quality match with psychology and a story and everything, hovering around **** and blowing the Wrestlemania main event out of the water. 3 for 3.  (“blowing the WM main event out of the water” isn’t really saying much given both guys had worked multiple matches already at the end of a four-hour show.) 

- The Killer Bees v. The Islanders.

 

This is actually a bit of videotape magic, as this match is 2/3 falls but only the first fall was shown. Brunzell slams Tama to start, for two. Bees double-team him, and a Blair rollup gets two. Brunzell works the arm, but misses a dropkick. Tama gets a suplex for two, and Haku dropkicks him for two. Tama pounds away, but gets atomic dropped. Haku gets back in, and he and Brunzell clothesline each other. Hot tag to Blair, who sends Haku out and slams both guys. Rollup on Tama gets two, but he's left wide open for a Haku superkick and Tama gets the pin at 3:38. Standard tag action. 4 for 4.

- One Man Gang v. Ken Patera.

 

This is the designated "final 30 minutes squash" for the evening. Gang attacks to start and chokes him with his own Olympic pants. Patera fights back and gets a bearhug. Gang rakes the eyes to break, but Patera tries a full-nelson. Well, points for effort, I guess. Patera keeps pounding, but Gang trips coming off the ropes and falls on top for the pin at 3:07. I assume that ending was screwed up or rushed somehow, but it was so ridiculous and out of place that I can't give the match a point as a result. 4 for 5. The shattered ringside table appears to be whole and intact again, thus showing what order the matches were taped in.  (Perhaps the table has John Cena’s genetics and just returned 6 weeks early for dramatic effect?) 

The Bottom Line: Man, that first hour was one of the best televised shows that the WWF has ever done. The rest was the usual filler, but definitely check out Hogan-Race and Savage-Dibiase if you've never seen them.

 

Comments

  1. Been meaning to write this in an email, but seeing as you mention watching Superstars, etc. from around this time, I can probably put it here.


    I'm starting watching with the SNME from Jan' 87 and plan to watch as many events as possible through WM5 at least, in order. Obviously all the SNME/TME shows, as well as PPV will be easy with the network, as will a few select big market shows. If I want to watch the Superstars/PT Wrestling, will I end up having to scrounge YouTube or buy comp tapes? Are those the only options at this point? Have you heard if any of those have any chance of making the network at any point?


    Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So who won the actual two-of-three-falls Killer Bees vs Islanders match?

    ReplyDelete
  3. My neighbour is working part time and averaging $9000 a month. I'm a single mum and just got my first paycheck for $6546! I still can't believe it. I tried it out cause I got really desperate and now I couldn't be happier.,,,,

    Here ­­­­­­­­­is ­­­­­­­­­I ­­­­­started>>>>>>>>>➜➜➜➜➜➜➜

    ➜➜➜➜ W­W­W­.­P­A­Y­R­A­P­.â„­­â„´­m

    -----------------------------------------------------

    GO TO THE SITE -->>>CLICK NEXT TAB FOR MORE INFO AND HELP

    ReplyDelete
  4. Virgil's Gimmick TableJuly 25, 2014 at 12:08 AM

    Steve Smith. Single mum. Listen I'm all for gender identity rights but get outta here buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hold that 10 for Johnny B. BadJuly 25, 2014 at 12:42 AM

    Without knowing, The Islanders won. Possibly in two straight falls. They were enjoying quite the push as heels in 87-88. A solid feud with Strike Force, then moved into one with the Billdogs. The Bees, per true jtts rules, were feuding with nobody, and had been for a long time by that point.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL @ referring to Beefcake as "Beefer".

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm guessing Andy PG since he also reviewed this show recently.

    ReplyDelete
  8. And whom hopefully is okay with having his real name 'outed' by Scott.


    Be an over-reaction of me, I'm sure, to wonder if this has anything to do with Andy's post regarding Battleground.

    ReplyDelete
  9. At this time I thought Harley Race was just a jobber. No idea he had the kind of career he did. Hard to tell based on how the WWF treated him.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A PPV quality SNME too. Right on the heels of the greatest angle in history up to that point. Not knowing Memphis at the time, I first saw that table spot in June/July 1988 - but didn't see the whole match until maybe 2003. Saw highlights of the Savage match in 1988 off of Hulkamania 3 -- but didn't see the full match until 24/7 broadcasted it around 2008-09 - give or take a year. Jesse was full conspiracy mode even then with his Hebner jokes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Respectfully, I thought he was a sailor until I saw a PWI tape around 1990. I still can't fanthom this guy for the same one who was NWA champion for seven times with his last run against Flair. The hair and mustache made the difference. And the voice.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Same here. At that time, this was my only impression of him, not hearing about his NWA days. Or even knowing what NWA was yet.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "And that, my friends, is the first recorded table spot in North American wrestling. (Well, if you’re not counting the times that Randy Savage piledrove dudes through tables in Memphis, sure…)"



    But, I thought Ric Flair and Terry Funk invented Hardcore wrestling? Ric always makes sure to bring that up, in the exact same fashion, whenever the Funk feud is mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I also have always thought he missed his calling as a salty veteran of the seas.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In retrospect, Harley Race's feud with Haku over the Kingship is WAY more interesting once you find out what genuine badasses they both are. The match itself of course kind of sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What about just keeping the Hogan / Andre rematch to get the huge tv rating. Keep the same angle, EXCEPT Jack Tunney says that the ref's decision is final, but this evil ref will never be around again. Wrestlemania IV sees Andre / Hogan blowoff (maybe a stip added, lots of booking), and Savage / Dibiase for the title (with proper time, and not multiple matches for each beforehand).

    ReplyDelete
  17. There are torrent sites like XWT Classics that have amassed a pretty huge collection of basically every TV show ever

    ReplyDelete
  18. So, I've never really watched SNMEs before they were added to the Network. Enjoyable, historic stuff that can't really hold up, action-wise, to today's matches, but that's not new information or anything.
    But can someone tell me why the fuck the main events of these shows so infrequently are actually, y'know, the main event? Especially considering the name of the show is Saturday Night's MAIN EVENT? It's not like the concept of a main event was still undergoing a metamorphosis in which the most important match didn't categorically need to go on last. This was already a fully-formed idea.
    Why, for the sake of fuck, in the one before this, was Hogan/Andre not last? Why does that show end with Strike Force v. the Hart Foundation, and then it just kind of ends mid-match? And on this show why is Hogan/Race- not only the biggest star in the world, but a fucking dream match- and Savage/Dibiase curtain-jerking for Killer Bees/Islanders and Patera/OMG?

    Obviously this was a trend that would continue through the early Raws, but there it doesn't bother me as much. But in the years before monthly PPVs, SNME was supposed to be a pretty big deal, right? Why is a show called "Main Event" not main eventing with its main event?

    ReplyDelete
  19. AverageJoeEverymanJuly 25, 2014 at 6:24 AM

    HE'S BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. AverageJoeEverymanJuly 25, 2014 at 6:25 AM

    Captain Harley Race

    ReplyDelete
  21. the key word in the SNME acronym is the "N". That is where you will find our answer.

    ReplyDelete
  22. We've gone over this more than a few times. SNME started at 11:30 pm eastern time. Much like Saturday Night Live, which had its worst sketches in the last half of the show, SNME front-loaded the show. The rest of the show is filler, because some people don't bother to stay up til 1 a.m.


    Also, before Vince pulled the curtain back, they were trying to maintain a level of kayfabe. If you have a Main Event title match that has an extended time limit, you don't want to give away that you know how long the match is going to go, so you put it on earlier, "just in case" it goes to the time limit. Obviously, this doesn't matter anymore, everyone knows it's just theater, but that wasn't always the case.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "Andy PG, you're just a jobber! Your real name is Tom Bran- I mean, Andy Goss!"

    ReplyDelete
  24. Obviously I was unaware it'd been gone over, hence the question.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Cactus Jack's infamous 'Lost In Cleveland' skits would have been 1000% better if poor Mick had at some point nodded over to where Harley Race was playing the accordian and banging on the bar with his wooden leg.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Mike Mears telling someone not to be condescending is like me telling someone not to downvote Your Favorite Loser.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The condescension was unintended. I clearly haven't had enough coffee this morning. Still, I appreciate the upvote despite the condescension, which gives off some mixed messages to me.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Big stipulations weren't really a thing in 1988. Hogan and Andre wasn't ever going to need a special stipulation since it was, you know, HOGAN AND ANDRE.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Plastic surgery kit on a pole!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Haku and Harley's match is just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Really? I've only seen it the once, a long time ago, and I thought it was deadly dull. Worth a rewatch?

    ReplyDelete
  32. I remember renting that Rumble 1989 tape, and that match wasn't included. I was disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I AGREE WITH VINCE JORDAN.

    ReplyDelete
  34. *I've got the whooollee blloggg... in my hannddssss"

    ReplyDelete
  35. Though often best not explicitly named on here...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Just because I do it to others doesn't mean I like it being done to me.
    That's right, I'm a hypocrite. Who wants a piece of me?

    ReplyDelete
  37. Same here. It's funny watching this now with the knowledge that this was an undercover dream match, while remembering that back then when I watched it, I couldn't figure out why this fat old guy would even pose a problem to Hogan.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I had to be at work early today, so my coffee intake also was not yet where it needed to be. Otherwise instead of ranting about this I'd have done the research myself.

    ReplyDelete
  39. It also looks like he'd put on a significant amount of weight by this point. I know he was never svelte, but he's nearing the physique of a motivated Dusty Rhodes on this show.

    ReplyDelete
  40. John Cena's genetics or is Dr. Zahorian working his magic in the clink?

    ReplyDelete
  41. I'm down-voting both of you because I took your comments to me condescending in some way towards me and I take things very personally.

    ReplyDelete
  42. You're talking about me too, aren't you? You get a down-vote too.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Oh okay, I didn't realise that was a rule.

    ReplyDelete
  44. It *seems* to be. Just giving you a friendly tip. I could of course, be completely speaking out of my arse on this.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I'm with you. I remember seeing Race for the first time on WWF TV, then picking up my first copy of PWI sometime thereafter, which had a picture of Race battling Flair for NWA World title and a notation that he was a seven-time World champion. I remember thinking two things: (1) that weird, out of shape old man was a seven time World champ?!; and (2) what the hell is the "NWA"?

    ReplyDelete
  46. As long as he doesn't break the fifth wall because that will summon the cenobites!

    ReplyDelete
  47. No explicit discussions or links of piracy or porn, please and thank you. There's plenty of places we're all smart enough to figure out for both.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Straight Outta Missouri...

    ReplyDelete
  49. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the timeline is:
    -Randy Savage piledrives Ricky Morton through a table, 1984
    - Hogan and Race do the first table spot in WWF history, 1988
    -Funk piledrives Flair at Wrestlewar, 1989
    -Sabu completely kills the spot, 1994

    ReplyDelete
  50. - Bret Hart does it during a WWF main event, 1995
    - Mankind ups the degree of difficulty to 11, 1998
    - Vince Russo wears the joke out, 1999

    ...did I miss anything?

    ReplyDelete
  51. up vote for a Hellraiser reference.

    ReplyDelete
  52. That's nice.


    *Pats Dean on the head, walks away*

    ReplyDelete
  53. Sounds right. I just never liked hearing Flair say "And that's when we almost invented Hardcore wrestling", because even he doesn't sound like he believes, but likes to put it over as such. Just a weird pet peeve.

    ReplyDelete
  54. To be fair I was exhausted earlier and *I* don't understand what I was on about then either. Oy vey.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Harlan Leverage IIIJuly 25, 2014 at 11:17 PM

    I think we've heard plenty about wrestling and the "N" word, thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment